Post navigation

The reason for the title this month is that I broke down and ate a large cream filled doughnut with icing on the top. Two things that hit me instantly after inhaling the doughnut was grease and guilt. It tasted greasy and cloying on the tongue and I had pangs of guilt over eating something so fattening and bad for my health.

I had to account for the darned doughnut on MyFitnessPal daily food intake log. Luckily I was able to offset the doughnut with my exercise for the day but my arteries may not have been so lucky. After that the last couple of days I have been under my calorie goal each day and have resisted the urge to overeat. Also last week I gave into a childhood favorite, potato chips, not reduced fat but full-on, full fat and salt potato chips. Once again it was “grease and guilt”. But I had to forgive myself and realize that it’s part of journey. Next time I will eat a smaller portion.

After eating more than two servings of the chips, I was overcome with guilt and disgusted with myself, I tossed the rest of the bag into the trash and covered it with coffee grounds so I would not go back later and attempt to retrieve the chips, yes I have done that before…have you? Normally I would buy a small bag of the snack so I could only a small amount instead of the large bag.

It’s not about the sacrifice it’s about doing something good for you and your health. Diet…drop the it T spells Die and that’s what it feels like to go on a diet. Well at least it feels that way to me and always has. For the first time in my life I have a real grip on my health and my future health too. Since I have lost weight (over 25 pounds) people are asking how did I do it, what’s my secret etc. As I have said before my secret is that there is no secret!

A friend of mine decided to get serious about loosing weight and the first thing we do when we get into DIET mode is to deny ourselves food that we think of as fattening or full of calories and carbs. The problem with that approach is that we can’t maintain that much denial for the long term. Some can but we begin to feel deprived, our bodies crave fats and protein. In the end we give in and eat pizza then feel guilty for going off our diet then say “screw it” or as my Aussie friend’s say “bugger it” then we go back to our old habits. What I am suggesting is that you don’t have to eat salad with no dressing and tuna fish with no mayo. You can have anything you want but it’s the portions and the exercise that come into to play. I highly recommend that you get the app called MyFitnessPal for your phone, computer or tablet. It is a wonderful app as it helps you keep track of what you have eaten and how much exercise you have completed for the day. It shows you if perhaps you did overeat the pizza, how much exercise you need to do to keep your goal. It is all about accountability.

If you know you have to keep track of whatever you eat it will help you to be aware of what you are doing. In the fitness pal application, you set a weight total on the app and it shows you everyday where you are in relation to the goal. It has a large database of popular food items and you can also scan the code on the food item if it has one and most times the app will find the food in the database. That helps with the guesswork on how many calories the food is. The app also has a database of foods from popular restaurants. The app breaks down the nutrients you are consuming as well as sodium, vitamins, cholesterol and more.

I was shocked to find while eating at a restaurant with friends when ordering what we thought might be the relatively low in calories choice. That choice ended up adding up to almost 700 calories. Yikes! That is more than half of my daily allotment. It pays to use the app to check first what you are ordering when dining out.I love spaghetti too but as a diabetic the carbs and sugar content are pretty high so when I want pasta I need to measure out a small amount to cook then once it’s cooked and drained I measure out ¾ of cup of pasta and just slather it with sauce and add my favorite cheese. I have found an excellent alternative to pasta is spaghetti squash. This week I found a great recipe for baked spaghetti using spaghetti squash and it was so good it made me forget my craving for real baked spaghetti. See the recipe in this issue and on my diabetic cookbook webpage.

Place parchment paper on cookie sheet and spray it with nonstick cooking oil. Some recipes have used a pizza stone but I have not used one yet. So I stuck with a metal cookie sheet.

Chopped and rinsed

Wash a small head of cauliflower; cut off the florets, don’t use the stems they are a little bitter. Pulse in your food processor for about 30 seconds, until you get powdery snow like cauliflower.

See above photo. You should end up with 2 to 3 cups cauliflower “snow”. Place the cauliflower in a microwave safe bowl and cover. Microwave for 4 minutes.

Once cauliflower is cool enough to handle, put into a clean dish towel, this is a major point I tried to squeeze the cloth with the very hot cauliflower…wait a few minutes for the mixture to cool off, then wring the water out then wring it out some more.. You want to squeeze out as much water as possible. You want the cauliflower to be more on the dry side it will make the crust crisper.

Once mixed together, use your hands to form the dough into a crust on your oiled parchment paper. Try to make it even all over so it will cook evenly. Cook in 350 degree over for 8-10 minutes until it gets crispy and brown around the edges. Cool the cooked “dough” then add pizza sauce, veggies, meat and the saved cheese. Place into a 350-degree oven until topping is golden brown and crispy. Let cool cut and serve.

This satisfied my craving for pizza with a very small amount of calories and carbs. Estimated for the entire recipe not per slice!

Calories: 250

Trans fat: 0

Carbohydrates: 24 (net 10)

Sugar: 3

Fiber: 14

Protein: 20

Average fast food pizza 380 Calories for 1/9 of the 12 inch pizza which is a very small piece.

I made a very cool discovery, the other day as I was preparing a Shepherd’s Pie. I prepared too much mash for the dish so I pondered what to do with the leftover mashed turnips and potatoes. I like to use turnips too as they are lower on the glycemic index than potatoes.

Before the Mash

I had the brilliant idea to freeze the leftover mash in ice-cube trays. I sprayed the trays with olive oil and plopped the mash into the trays. I leveled off the mixture and covered with aluminum foil. While rummaging in the freezer for some vegetables to use as a side dish, I remembered the frozen mash. I pulled the tray out and popped out a few of the frozen cubes to use with as a side for a meal and recovered the tray and returned it to the freezer. I placed the cubes on a plate and zapped it in the microwave, the mash did not lose any flavor or texture from freezing. I am patting myself on the back for this clever little tip. 🙂

Hot soup and a good book is a winning combination.This hearty and satisfing soup does the trick to chase away a gloomy day. I like to add extra veggies to my soups to add layers of flavor as well as the added benefit of more vegetables to my diet.

Creamy Split Pea Soup

1/2 package of dry slit peas

1 32 oz. carton of vegetable stock

32 oz. of water

1 carrot diced

1 stalk of celery diced

1 clove of garlic minced

1 small onion diced

1 teaspoon extra vigrin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

Option – add chili pepper flakes to spice up the soup

Rinse the split peas well, until the water runs clear. You can also soak the peas for an hour or so but it is not necessary. Add onion, celery,carrots and garlic to the small amount of oil in the bottom of your pot, cook until onions are clear and tender. Add in the peas, stock and water, cook on medium high heat until soup begins to boil, reduce heat, cover and let simmer for 30-45 minutes until tender. For a smoother soup blend in a blender or food processor until smooth and creamy.

I like to use cold baked potatoes for this recipe as they are easier to brown and they are drier than raw grated potatoes and fry up nicely.Sauté over medium heat the following: meats,onions, peppers, garlic, zucchini in a heavy cast iron or stainless steel skillet make sure the handle of the skillet is oven safe. Cook until onions are tender.Drain mixture onto a paper towel.Next add in grated baked potatoes and spread around to cover the bottom of the skillet this will be the top of the egg dish if you flip it over, it will form kind of a crunchy crust. Add cooked sausage, onions, peppers, garlic and zucchini on top of potatoes, next pour egg whites over mixture,add chopped tomatoes and cheese. Cover with a lid until egg mixture sets. Place skillet under a broiler until mixture rises and cheese is melted and kind of crispy. Removed and let sit for a few minutes. Slice into sections, serves 4-6. Top the slice with salsa and instead of sour cream try plain non fat greek yogurt. Something new I found is Greek yogurt onion dip,it adds a bit more flavor as a garnish.